These drum heads are amazing. These are truly the closest thing to replicating that vintage jazz sound you hear on so many old recordings. They are, in my opinion, the closest thing to calf skin heads on the market.

Nothing quite gets that old school sound like calf skin, but if you cant get calf skin this really is the next best thing. With a very warm and sensitive sound that you can really 'play into,' these heads are a pleasure all around to play.

These heads were designed for the jazz musician in mind, and I honestly cant see them in any other settings- except maybe Motown music or older R&B.

My only gripe with these heads is that the 'etching' tends to come off fairly quickly (and can get your stuff a little dusty!). Once the 'etching' comes off the heads develop a very bright and brittle sound that I don't particularly care for and find quite the opposite of the sound you're looking for if you buy these heads in the first place.

These heads are expensive however and wear out quickly. While they are the closest thing to the sound and feel of real calf skin to me, they are absolutely not the kind of thing I would throw on my drums and gig for a while and be able to leave there. I honestly don't know anyone who KEEPS these heads on their drum- but I know quite a few (myself included) who will throw these on for a couple of special shows and then revert back to my regular heads. I think these heads would be best suited for studio use.

If you're looking for a suitable alternative to calfskin, I would recommend the Remo Fiberskyn heads, as they give a comparable sound and tend to last forever- not to mention the fact that they're cheaper!

This is yet another great invention from the Evans company. This is basically one of their normal snare drum heads with an interior muffling ring around the outside interior edge and several pin prick size holes around the exterior of the head which serve to dry the head out a bit.

The 'dry vents' as Evans calls them will really help to give your drum a low fat sound. They really kill a lot of the higher frequencies of the head and fatten up the sound quite a bit. This head really gives you that60's and 70's, low, fat classic rock sound that you hear on so many recordings (think David Bowie, 'Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars').

This head is particularly suited for classic rock, but it could also work well in funk, R&B and possibly some hard rock and metal situations. This head won't help your drum cut over a lot of overdriven guitars, but it will add some serious punch to your drum.

This head can also work particularly well in jazz situations, when paired with the right drum and the right cymbals. This head can really help you get a sound similar to Jack Dejohnette when tuned correctly.

I like this head, but honestly its not one of my favorites. I really like my drums to open up and have a wide spectrum of sound. This drum cancels a little too much of the high end of my snare drums response to suit my tastes- and no matter how high you tune your drum, you won't be able to get it back.

I would recommend this head to most anyone but especially those of you playing in classic rock cover bands and very loud metal situations, looking for a fat, punchy sound.

Man these suckers are amazing.

Why no one thought of this before is beyond me, and also the reason why the person lucky enough to have patented it is probably retired at 30!

The Evans Emad head is truly a work of simplistic beauty. Back in the day you had to stick towels, sheets, pillows or whatever else inside your bass drum to get a good sound- or maybe one of those annoying Remo muffle rings or any number of other muffling systems- but now all you need is an Emad bass drum head.

The muffling system is built into the batter side of the head, in which you can stick one of several sizes of fitted rings made of foam (of varying degrees of width each). Want a more muffled sound? Just stick in the widest foam ring. Want a more open, long sound? Simply replace the widest foam ring with either the middle width foam ring or the smallest width foam ring- or go without a ring and play the head by itself.

Playing the head by itself gives a great sound too, as the mounting that the foam rings fit into helps to dampen the head a bit by itself. I generally play this head without any of the foam rings to get a big open sound.

This drum head is sure to make any bass drum sound awesome. I play the clear Emad on my twenty two inch bass drum and it gives it an unbelievably deep, fat sound. This really is the quintessential head for funk and R&B in my eyes. It also works great in louder rock and roll and metal situations.

Evans also makes a coated Emad head that works very well for jazz- although they don't come in sixteen inch which irritates me slightly. The coated Emad heads also work well for Motown and lighter R&B situations as it gives a mellower sound and still offers the great controllability as the clear Emad.